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EULOGY 



V T OS THE 



LIFE AXD CHARACTER OF JAMES K, FOLK, 



uic 



PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 



DELIYEttea 



AT WASHINGTON CITV, JlLV H, IMS. 



BY HON. H. S. FOOTE. 



WASHINGTON: 

TUaaUkS EIICHII, IJUM£*.. 
1519. 



EULOGY 



UPON THE 



1IFE AND CHARACTER OF JAMES K. POLK, 



PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, 



DELIVERED 



AT -.WASHINGTON CITY, JULY 9, 1849, 



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BY HON. H. S. FOOTE 



WASHINGTON: 

THOMAS RITCHIE, rRINTEK. 
........ 

1.849. 



fen-) 



CORRESPONDENCE 



Washington, July 9, 1S49. 
Sir:< The committee of arrangements return you their grateful thanks for 
the admirable manner in which you have complied with their request, to deliver 
a eulogy upon the life and character of James K. Polk, late President of the 
United States. 

Devoid of fulsome praise, it spoke truth in its most convincing form, and 
was an effort worihy one statesman, occupying a proud andhonoiable position, 
to the memory of an illustrious brother statesman — now no more. 

In order that it may be laid before the American peop'e, and in conformity 
with the resolution of the Jackson Democratic Association, we request of you 
a copy of your address for publication. 
We are, with the highest regard, your obedient servants, 

B. F. BROWN, 
J. E. DOW, 
THOS. RITCHIE, 
JOHN M. McCALLA, 
J. D. HOOVER, 
THOMAS J. GALT, 
GEO. W. PHILLIPS, 
Z. W. McKNEW, 
Committee of Arrangements. 
To the Hon. Henry S. Foote. 



Washington, July 9, 1849. 

Gentlemen : A copy of the eulogy to-day delivered by me, upon the life and 
character of James K. Polk, late President of the United States, is herewith 
transmitted to you for publication, as you have decided that this is the proper 
disposition to be made of it, and have requested me to enable you to make it. 

For the very kind terms in which your request is couched, you will please 
accept my cordial acknowledgments. 

I have the honor to be, with sentiments of the highest respect and the warm- 
est kindness, your friend and fellow-citizen, 

HENRY S. FOOTE. 

Messrs. B. F. Brown, J. E. Dow, Thomas Ritchie, and others. 



EULOGY 



Friends and Fellow-citizens : Seldom, if ever before, 
has it occurred that a whole people have had occasion to pour 
forth their united lamentations over the sudden and unexpected 
decease of a distinguished fellow-citizen under circumstances 
more interesting than those which now surround us. An illus- 
trious statesman, who, for almost a full quarter of a century, 
has been closely connected with the administrative concerns of 
the republic, and who, for the greater part of that period, has 
occupied places of high civic trust, has been withdrawn for- 
ever from the view of his countrymen, at a time when they 
were least expecting that a calamity so serious would befall 
them, and whilst they were still confidently hoping that his 
sage and salutary counsels would be continued for many years 
to themselves and to their children. A renowned political 
chieftain, whose wisdom, firmness, and fidelity had been made 
manifest on a thousand striking occasions ; whose patient per- 
severance amidst difficulties and trials, however severe ; whose 
never-failing energy and hopefulness amid scenes of trouble and 
disaster had associated him in a very peculiar manner, both 
with great measures of state and vital principles of party policy, 
has, but the other day, whilst all his high claims to general es- 
teem and confidence remained yet strong and unimpaired, gone 
down at once to the gloomy and companionless sepulchre, where 
neither the voice of censure nor applause can be ever heard re- 
sounding, and where neither the strains of triumph nor of defeat 
will be able to rouse the revered sleeper from his last dream- 
less repose. He who, but a few months since, worthily, useful- 
ly, and gloriously sat invested with the authority of First Magis- 
trate of a great nation, has been abruptly torn away from the 
busy and tumultuous scenes of earth and earth's frail habitants, 
whilst yet the glad voices of grateful millions were chanting 
in exultant chorus the immortal story of his achievements, and 
all the true votaries of freedom to be found beneath the sun 
were still joyously re-echoing the swelling accents of gratula- 
tion. An upright and virtuous citizen, whose life from the 
cradle to the days of opening manhood, from manhood to the 
close of his earthly career, had been constantly marked with 
the amiable and unostentatious display of all those moral graces 
which secure repose and happiness to the social circle, and 



make home a paradise of joys, has been called to bid a last 
solemn adieu to country, friends, and beloved relatives, amid 
sorrowing lamentations and tears of affectionate regret, such as 
have been seldom seen lending consolation and ornament to the 
last horns of expiring greatness. James K. Polk, late Presi- 
dent of the United States, departed this life, at his own resi- 
dence in the city of Nashville, on the 15th of June, 1849, in 
the fifty-fifth year of his age. 

In entering upon the task, to the performance of which I 
have been invited by the Jackson Democratic Association of 
this city, I find myself in some degree relieved from the ne- 
cessity of entering into detail by the extended circulation of 
several well-written and accurate biographical sketches of ex- 
President Polk which has taken place in the last five years. 
In the remarks, therefore, which I propose to submit by way 
of eulogy upon the deceased, I shall limit myself to a notice of 
certain prominent events in his civic career, accompanied by a 
few observations upon his character and conduct as a demo- 
cratic statesman. 

Time alone can effectually extinguish prejudices, which, 
springing up in the mind of man in the ordinary intercourse of 
life, become associated in some way with one or more of the 
stronger feelings of our nature. It is, notwithstanding, true, 
that both the political friends and adversaries of Mr. Polk have 
already concurred in recognising his public example as afford- 
ing a remarkable instance of that rarest of all civic virtues — 
consistency in opinion and conduct. There is, indeed, so little 
division of sentiment touching his merit in this respect, that I 
feel authorized to proceed at once to inquire how it did thus 
happen, that this admitted consistency as a politician came to be 
one cf the most shining ornaments of a personage, who, for 
many years of his life, was a zealous and active participant in 
scenes of high party excitement, and whose fate it was to be 
called almost every day to take his stand upon questions con- 
nected with the action of the government, of a novel and com- 
plex character? Are we to ascribe to him intellectual facul- 
ties altogether superior to those of other statesmen, which en- 
abled him to understand at a glance, and accurately, what 
years of studious contemplation could only empower other 
minds to master imperfectly, and not without a serious admix- 
ture of truth and error 9 Or shall we conclude that he was in- 
debted, for the enviable advantage alluded to, to that wonder- 
ful command which he is known to have at all times exercised 
over his own temper and feelings, and which enabled him to 
escape entirely the thousand delusory influences which are 
spread about the pathway of a public man in this country — 



influences which give rise to such numerous false judgments, 
and to such an astonishing multitude of visionary and imprac- 
ticable schemes of mistaken expediency ? I am not prepared 
to decide how far precisely the causes named may have con- 
tributed to the production o"f that grand moral result which we 
are now considering ; but I cannot doubt that there were also 
other agencies at work to which great efficiency must an jus- 
tice be ascribed. Mr. Polk was a strictly conscientious man ; 
he worshipped Truth with a fidelity and fervor which few of her 
earthly votaries have been known to exhibit ; insomuch , that when 
he felt himself to be evidently favored with her benignant gui- 
dance, he would sooner have died than have failed to manifest 
the fitting homage to her behests, or have refused to execute 
her homeliest mandates. Endowed with uncommon quick- 
ness of perception, and blessed with great strength as well as 
clearness of judgment, he was often able to attain reliable con- 
clusions with a rapidity quite surprising to persons of slower 
and more plodding intellect ; and yet, though of a most lively 
temperament, and richly imbued with the" noble progressive 
spirit of the age, there was to be observed about all his public 
movements a certain circumspective guardedness, which ren- 
dered him, of all men living, most averse to the hasty declara- 
tion of opinion upon subjects which he was conscious of not 
having sufficiently explored. It is therefore not to be at all 
wondered at, that though somewhat celebrated for the prompt- 
itude with which he matured and announced his views upon 
new and difficult questions of national policy, and though 
evincing in ail cases of real emergency and peril a decision of 
character which has never been surpassed, his opinions, when 
they had been once formally declared, were found invariably 
to stand the test of dispassionate and searching scrutiny, and 
were perceived to bear the genuine impress of mature and med- 
itative wisdom. Under such circumstances, it is not in tin- 
least degree difficult to discover how it occasionally happened 
with Mr. Polk, as it has happened in other noted historic instances 
which could be mentioned, that measures recommended by him 
for adoption, and which were pronounced at first, by superficial 
theorists and shallow dogmatists to be in the highest degree 
rash and precipitate, turned out, after all, to have been both 
judiciously conceived and seasonably suggested. Those who 
knew the late President most intimately, and who had the mot 
favorable opportunities of observing his conduct as Chief Exec- 
utive of the nation, all agree that his moral courage was equal 
to any crisis which he was ever fated to encounter ; and the 
individuals who have been most near him in seasons of real 
turmoil and commotion, assert that his self-possession was not 



inferior even to that of A'nlrew Jackson himself. After ah% 
though, I cannot help believing that his admirable consistency 
as a politician must be in part attributed to what has not yet 
been distinctly specified — his thorough comprehension of, and 
his devout reverence for, the written constitution of the republic. 
No man, I am sure, ever lived who had devoted himself more 
assiduously to the study of this sacred instrument, or who bet- 
ter understood it in all its sublimity and grandeur of moral out- 
line and proportion. He had looked closely into the facts con- 
nected with its formation and adoption, and was conversant 
with all the controversial learning to which, at different periods 
of our national history, it had given rise. I rejoice to be able 
to announce that he was always, and without the shadow of 
change or misgiving, a genuine Jefferson democrat • and that,. 
in dealing with questions involving the fundamental law of the 
Union, as from time to time they arose, he was uniformly 
guided and regulated by the principles of the time-honored 
democratic creed as expounded by the illustrious fathers of the 
strict construction school. The value of such a knowledge of 
the constitution, and of such a respect for its requisitions, can- 
not be too'highly estimated; and I confidently believe that the 
day is not now distant when the merits of Mr. Polk, in these 
respects, will associate his name in deathless connexion with 
the names of our most venerated Presidents of formertimes. 

1 shall be excused, I hope, for offering here a few observa- 
tions of a somewhat more general character, but which I flatter 
myself will be found more or less elucidative of the lofty topic 
already in part discussed. The federative system, as at this 
moment in vigorous and beneficial operation in the United 
States, is acknowledged by all statesmen worthy of the name 
on either side of the Atlantic to present the most successful 
experiment of free government which has been attempted in 
any age of the world. Its capacity for dispensing with facility 
all the blessings which spring from sound and equal legisla- 
tion, over an extended territorial surface, has been repeatedly 
admitted even by the professed advocates of monarchy; and 
so conclusive is the evidence on this head which experience 
itself has supplied, that it is now doubted, and with reason, 
whether there be authority for the designation of any precise 
geographical limits within which this system must of necessity 
be restricted, in order to realize the utmost utility of which it is 
susceptible. The happy apportionment of governmental power 
for which it provides between federal and State depositories 
seems to secure all the vigor requisite for the suppression of 
domestic violence, or for energetic defence against foreign hos- 
tility. It may be safely pronounced that, so far as we have 



yet advanced in our progress as a nation, our dignity as a sepa- 
rate and independent power has been fully maintained abroad, 
and that the supremacy of the central department, when acting 
in its appropriate sphere of authority, has been at all times 
sufficiently apparent ; whilst, through the efficient and whole- 
some instrumentality of local legislation on the part of the 
States respectively, a well-regulated police, a sound and eleva- 
ted state of social morals, and, in fine, everything necessary to 
municipal prosperity and intellectual advancement, has been 
steadily preserved and promoted by each succeeding generation 
of our countrymen, up to the sixty-first year of our separate 
existence as a people. But this governmental plan, worthy of 
admiration as it is by reason of the wisdom displayed in its 
conformation, is far more complicated in its arrangements than 
any other now existing. Nor is ifat all certain that it would 
be found altogether suited to any people, who, at the period of 
its adoption by them, should not have made considerable pro- 
gress in the art of political self-government, and who should 
not have been already in some degree habituated to the sober 
and scrutinizing examination of great public measures. The 
framers of the constitution of the United States were men pro- 
foundly conversant with the history of all governments, ancient 
and modern. They possessed, likewise, a knowledge, both 
accurate and minute, of all the peculiar characteristics of their 
own countrymen, and knew precisely how far to trust to their 
capabilities as a people. They adapted the government which 
they founded, with singular nicety and precision, to the popu- 
lation over which its authority was to be exerted, and by 
whose virtue and good sense it was at last to be made effectual. 
This is the grand secret of that wonderful success which 
crowned the labors of those patriarchs who sat in the federal 
convention of 1TS9. A declaration, I am sure, may be here 
indulged in -reference to the general population of the United 
States, even at that early period of our history, which could 
hardly be hazarded in relation to any other people for whom a 
new government has been at any time set on foot : t/ie people 
aided, understandingly and efficiently, in the fabrication of the 
government itself. They were formally consulted in regard to 
all the fundamental articles of the constitution ; and the whole 
instrument was regularly laid before them in the newspapers of 
the period. Its chief provisions were discussed by able wri- 
ters ; and its supposed merits and demerits were freely canvass- 
ed by public speakers seldom if ever surpassed, either in wis- 
dom or true eloquence. The views of the people themselves 
were diligently elicited, and their lightest objections listened to 
with affectionate respect. Nor did it become the supreme law 



10 

of the land until nine different conventions had ratified it ; in 
each of which the full majesty of a sovereign State was made 
manifest in the persons of men long celebrated for their 
learning, their astuteness, and their unwavering patriotism. 
When the federal constitution commenced its career of author- 
ity, it had already been written upon the hearts and understand- 
ings of three millions of freemen. It was not like the laws of 
ancient Crete, introduced by Lycurgus into Sparta; nor yet 
like the system of jurisprudence prepared by the wisdom of 
Solontfor the government of Athens; nor yet, again, like, the 
same Attic law transplanted by the decemvirs to Rome, and in- 
scribed on the twelve tables of immortal renown; all of which 
were made known to the people subjected to their sway, for the 
first time, by the very means employed for their practical en- 
forcement. In this respect, it is evident that the new system of 
government in the United States enjoyed peculiar advantages. 
Another circumstance which has proved not less propitious, is 
this : A large majority of the people of the United States, 
through each succeeding generation, have possessed an ac- 
quaintance with the leading provisions both of the federal and 
State constitutions. Scarcely, indeed, would it be possible, in 
any of the more enlightened sections of the Union, to enter a 
dwelling without finding its inmates supplied with a volume 
containing all these sacred guaranties of liberty; and often 
would the stranger from less favored regions be surprised by 
judicious views of constitutional law flowing from the lips of 
humble cottagers, whose bosoms have never felt the fierce throb- 
bings of political ambition, and whose aspirations are directed 
alone to their country's happiness. An ordinary citizen of the 
United States would be ashamed to avow his entire ignorance 
of material alterations effected either in the federal or State con- 
stitutions', and more especially would he feel chagrined at being 
discovered not to have kept pace with the changes which had 
occurred in the constitution of his own State. A very large 
portion of the people of the United States are readers of news- 
papers, from the columns of Avhich they derive early informa- 
tion as to every new measure of government proposed in the 
national councils, long before it can assume the character of a 
law. They are secured, in the same way. an opportunity of 
examining at leisure, and under circumstances of seclusion and 
repose favorable to arriving at correct conclusions, all the argu- 
ments offered in Congress either in opposition to or in support 
of particular measures; and they are, in addition, frequently 
convened at public meetings, where they listen to cogent ad- 
dresses from members of their own body — from men who, like 
themselves, belong to the constituent class, and who are, there- 



11 

fore, not under the delusive influence so apt to arise from official 
incumbency. These men being known to them personally',' they 
are at no loss to determine how far their opinions are entitled 
to respect as mere authority, or may require the adduction of 
stronger arguments than they appear able to bring forward. 
Thus enlightened, they are prepared through the medium of 
memorials, resolutions, and instructions to their own represent- 
atives, almost to participate in the process of legislation itself. 
If the national government should be guilty at any time of en- 
tering upon the exercise of powers not confided to it by the 
constitution, the people of the respective States, sooner or later, 
in one form or another, would be sure to find it out, and through 
the action of their local governments, if by no other means, 
would be able to apply a seasonable corrective. Their politi- 
cal welfare they believe to depend, in a great degree, upon the 
preservation of their written constitution inviolate; and ill a 
very especial manner, upon confining the central power of 
their federative system within the orbit plainly prescribed to it. 
They cherish State authority with a pions zeal, as the oldest, 
most paternal, least aspiring, and, therefore, least dangerous 
part of their governmental organization. To the State govern- 
ments, among which combinations perilous to liberty are ren- 
dered almost impossible by their number and the complexity 
of local interests, they look for the exercise of a bold and sleep- 
less vigilance over all the movements of the federal head, and 
expect from them, in cases of plainly usurped power, such 
prompt and efficient action as may serve to check at once all 
movements of aggressive violence, ere yet the reserved rights 
of the States and people may have received serious detriment ; 
and in the event of any gross infraction of these rights having 
been actually consummated, or of any scheme of covert hos- 
tility being put in execution, which, if successful, must result 
in intolerable injustice and oppression, they confidently expect 
from the same source the suggestion of appropriate remedies. 
I feel it to be due to Mr. Polk that I should here add, that the 
class of politicians to which he belonged, and of whose doc- 
trines he was as fine an exemplification in all respects as could 
be desired, have ever asserted that the people, who constitute 
the true sovereigns in this republic, have equally a right to de- 
mand at the hands of the executive department of the govern- 
ment, in all cases of imperious necessity, the fearless and con- 
scientious exercise of that high conservative faculty with which 
the first officer of the nation has been providently armed, as the 

PRESERVER, PROTECTOR, aild DEFENDER of the Constitution it- 
Self audits sacred equipoise of powers ; in order that all the 
fundamental guarantees of liberty and right may be saved from 



12 

dangerous invasions; and (he Union itself le rescued from ruin, 
(in cases easy to be specified,) by arresting the progress of hasty 
and inconsiderate legislation ; thus stifling the unprincipled 
schemes of faction ere yet they have acquired the strength and 
consistency of law. 

Whether the views now expressed shall be approved by this 
worthy audience and the country, or not, they were certainly 
such as characterized the career of Mr. Polk as a member of 
Congress, and as President, and to the successful enforcement 
of which he owes the greater part of his fame as a statesman. 
For fourteen years of his life he was a member of the House of 
Representatives in Congress, during which period he was suc- 
cessively chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means and 
Speaker of the House. His ability as a debater, and his famili- 
arity both with the details of business and with the party his- 
tory of the country, very early gave him a decided ascendency 
in the deliberations of that body ; and his efficient opposition 
to the recharter of the United States Bank, to the establishment 
of an unconstitutional system of internal improvements by the 
federal government, and to other kindred schemes of legislative 
policy at that time urged upon the country, won for him a hold 
upon the confidence and esteem of the democratic portion of 
his countrymen which few persons have attained in so short a 
period. His extraordinary diligence as a member of Congress 
may be inferred from a declaration incidentally made by him- 
self in his parting address, as Speaker, to the House of Repre- 
sentatives in March, 1S39, in which he thus expresses himself: 
u My service here has been constant and laborious. I can per- 
haps say what but few others, if any, can — that I have not 
failed to attend, the daily sittings of this House a single day 
since I have been a member of it, save only on a single occa- 
sion, when prevented for a short time by indisposition." His 
success in discharging the duties of Speaker is sufficiently 
evinced by another statement extracted from the same address, 
which is as follows: "It has been made my duty to decide- 
more questions of parliamentary order, many of them of a com- 
plex and difficult character, arising often in the midst of excite- 
ment in the course of our proceedings, than had been decided, 
as is believed, by all my predecessors from the foundation of 
the government. This House has uniformly sustained me, 
without distinction of the political parties of which it has been 
composed. Our records will show that, upon the numerous 
appeals which have been taken to the House, I have been sus- 
tained by both political parties, and often by large and decided 
majorities." 



13 

No unprejudiced mind can ever so cursorily glance alons the 
administrative course of Mr. Polk for the last four years, with- 
out being most forcibly struck with that brilliant succession of 
grand results which have cast such a beamy effulgence, such 
unequalled glory, upon the period of our history which has 
just closed. Nor will such a person, I think, be less inclined 
to admire — and admiring, to approve — that singular concord 
which prevailed in Mr. Polk's cabinet during the whole term 
of its existence. Coming into power without solicitation on 
his own part, or on the part of his friends, he was able to avoid 
all personal pledges as to the offices which he might, as Presi- 
dent, find necessary to be filled anew; and knowing most of 
the leading democratic statesmen of the country well, from 
having served with them in Congress, he found it to be a task 
of no great difficulty to call around him, as he did, gentlemen 
whose abilities, moral worth, political experience, and ascer- 
tained fidelity to principle, seemed to make it next to impossi- 
ble that they could fail to harmonize with himself and with 
«ach other, or that their co-operating energies, under his own 
steady supervision, should prove in the least degree inadequate 
to those high purposes which he hoped by their aid to accom- 
plish. 

All will acknowledge that he executed faithfully and to the 
letter every political pledge which he had given previous to his 
election. 

Finding, upon his inauguration, that a favorite measure of 
democratic policy — the annexation of Texas, so felicitously 
commenced and carried forward by his immediate predeces- 
sor — was not yet fully consummated, he lost no time in putting 
the finishing hand to this noble undertaking, and soon he had 
the honor of formally introducing another bright star into the 
galaxy of the confederacy. 

The Oregon question remaining in an unsettled condition, 
he applied himself without delay to its definitive adjustment ; 
and in due season, after surmounting difficulties and triumph- 
ing over obstacles, some of which were scarcely to have been 
anticipated, he eventually succeeded in arranging the whole 
matter of controversy with the British government upon terms 
decidedly more favorable than any of his predecessors seem to 
have had it in their power to procure. 

The administration of Mr. Polk may be well regarded as 
constituting an era in the history of our commercial and finan- 
cial concerns. By the tariff of 1846, a nearer approach has 
been made to the abrogation of all illiberal restrictions upon 
trade, than had been before realized in modern times; and 
whilst by this act the taxes on commerce have been reduced 



14 

about one-half, the revenue accruing from imports has increased 
almost a fourth. By the organization of the independent 
treasury, the currency of the Union has been at last placed 
upon the most stable foundations; whilst by means of the 
warehousing system, now in successful operation, our Ameri- 
can ports are destined to become ere long the entrepots for uni- 
versal commerce. Even the British corn laws have been seen 
to give way before the force of our example ; and the colonial 
restrictive policy, so long the subject of complaint and remon- 
strance in this country, has in all probability by this time re- 
ceived its death-blow. 

The establishment of ocean steam navigation intercourse 
with several States belonging to the European continent has 
greatly enhanced both our commerce and our revenue; whilst, 
through the efficient agency of the transit law now recently en- 
acted, a large portion of the trade of the Canadas and of the 
St. Lawrence has been poured into the cities of New York and 
Boston. Various commercial treaties with foreign powers, both 
in our own hemisphere and beyond the ocean, have been effect- 
ed during the administration which has just terminated; among 
which the treaty with New Grenada deserves to be specially men- 
tioned, as by its provisions a railroad communication between 
the Atlantic and Pacific oceans has been at last secured. 

Mr. Polk found it necessary to make known in his first mes- 
sage to the two houses of Congress the interruption of our usual 
friendly relations with the republic of Mexico, and the actual 
suspension of " all diplomatic intercourse between the two 
countries by the acts of Mexico;" and at the same time he 
brought up to the view of Congress the fact, that Mexico had 
already been "marshalling and organizing armies, issuing 
proclamations, and avowing the intention to make war on the 
United States, either by an open declaration, or by invading 
Texas." After much vaporing and menace, the Mexican gov- 
ernment, powerfully operated on by influences which had their 
origin beyond the ocean, and encouraged, as must with mor- 
tification be confessed, by the factious and indiscreet conduct 
of a part of our own citizens, presumed to invade our territory, 
and to shed the blood of our citizens upon our own soil. The 
commander-in-chief of the army and navy of the Union, under 
such circumstances, did not fail to do his duty; and as far as 
he had constitutional power, it was fully exerted for the vindi- 
cation of the honor of the republic and the punishment of the 
audacious foe. Congress having resolved upon the recognition 
of the existence of war, commenced " by the act of Mexico," 
and having amply provided for its vigorous prosecution, meas- 
ures were speedily taken, under the authority of the President, 



15 

to fulfil what appeared to be the general wish of the nation. In 
spite of peculiar obstacles, cast in his way by domestic oppo- 
sition which can neither be too deeply deplored nor too strong- 
ly censured, the war was so discreetly and energetically con- 
ducted, both upon the land and upon the sea, that the restora- 
tion of peace was speedily achieved ; and in the progress of 
that war, memorable battles' were fought, brilliant victories 
achieved, and instances of individual prowess exhibited, which 
have greatly elevated the character and enhanced the glory of 
the nation; whilst a most inviting field has been opened to the 
enterprise of our citizens in California and New Mexico; our 
territorial domain has been increased at least one-third in ex- 
tent; the amount of our maritime coast has beeu enhanced 
proportionately; the long-desired and invaluable ports on the 
Pacific have been acquired ; the future command of the East 
Indian trade secured, with the eventual control of the com- 
merce of the world. All this has been done, too, without add- 
ing oppressively to our national indebtedness, or impairing our 
fiscal credit; for even whilst the war was yet raging, pecu- 
niary negotiations were kept in progress by the Treasury De- 
partment which realized la^rge premiums upon loans contract- 
ed; the government obtaining, in fact, upwards of fifteen mil- 
lions more for forty-seven millions of stock and treasury notes 
than was received for nearly double that amount in the war of 
1812. It is a remarkable fact, that, by the wise policy of the 
late administration, even war itself became ancillary to pur- 
poses of revenue and the great ends of commerce; for, instead 
of breaking up the trade of all nations with Mexico by keeping 
her ports subjected to a rigorous system of blockade, we open- 
ed the whole interior of that republic to the commercial enter- 
prise of our own and other nations ; and, by establishing and 
enforcing a moderate tariff of duties upon imports, we increased 
our own financial resources to the extent of several millions of 
dollars. 

It will ever be a gratifying recollection to the friends of Mr. 
Polk, that whilst he at all times cautiously avoided such acts 
as might lead to u entangling alliances" with other powers, he 
did not fail to manifest, on all suitable occasions, a most liberal 
and encouraging sympathy in behalf of the heroic stragglers 
for freedom in other lands; insomuch that it may, without the 
least exaggeration, be asserted, that there is no country under 
the sun, where the oppressed of long centuries of bondage have 
risen up at last against their oppressors, and have dared to as- 
sert in arms their sacred and indefeasible right to civil and reli- 
gious liberty, in which the name of our illustrious democratic 
ex-President is not pronounced with fervor and with gratitude, 
and in which he has not himself been recognised as the high- 



16 

•sotiled and magnanimous First Magistrate of the model repub- 
lic of the world. 

It now only remains to be stated, that the last days of Mr, 
Polk's administration were in felicitous unison with his whole 
antecedent course as President. For a year or two previous to 
his retirement from the presidency, he had exerted himself to 
the utmost for the suppression of all feelings of sectional dis- 
cord and rancor among his countrymen residing in the North 
and in the South, and had labored to bring to a close the angry 
and unprofitable contentions which factious and unprincipled 
men had thought proper to keep in progress in the two houses 
of Congress for their own benefit. To the last he struggled to 
effect an honorable and fraternal compromise of all local differ- 
ences. Seeing the exposed condition of our fellow-citizens in 
California and New Mexico, cut off as they were from the se- 
curity afforded by regular government, and subject to all the 
evils of social anarchy, he employed all his power as President, 
and all the influence which either character or position could 
give him, for the protection of our suffering brethren in those 
distant regions. The appalling scenes which have already en- 
sued in California, and those far worse scenes now fearfully 
apprehended, the dismal intelligence of which may reach us in 
less than a week from the present moment, Mr. Polk long ago 
anticipated and predicted as certain to occur, in the event of a 
neglect or refusal on the part of Congress to perform its un- 
questionable duty in the case ; and he labored night and day, 
in every legitimate and constitutional mode, to prevent the 
threatened dangers from arising. It is therefore that I feel au- 
thorized to declare, that if uproar and confusion shall continue 
in California, no blame is to be imputed to him whose untime- 
ly death we now mourn. If those fair fields, so lately con- 
quered by our victorious legions, shall be fated hereafter to be 
rent with civil feuds and drenched in fraternal blood, it is not 
the illustrious democratic statesman, the splendors of whose 
public career we have now met to commemorate, that will be 
held responsible to this age and to posterity. If this noble 
fabric of confederated freedom, reared by the wisdom of our 
immortal ancestors, shall be seen to tumble into ruin under the 
worse than parricidal blows of domestic traitors, let no man 
dare to attribute a catastrophe so dire, either to the acts or coun- 
sels of an administration, which so gloriously realized, at its 
close, the picture of national felicity described by the great Ro- 
man poet, when he exclaimed : 

Jam, Fides, et Pax, Pudorqub 
Prisons, et wglecta redire Virtus 
Jludet: apparetque, beato pleno, 

Copia Co/ nw. 



146 




































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